Thursday, May 21, 2009

A Swing Set and a Flying Plate

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who wanted to play out in the backyard and swing. So he did just that. Thankfully, his older sister was with him. Though, in retrospect, it mightn't have made a difference.

So, the mama of this little boy was wicked tired after too many nights of staying up too late and a long day of errands, so she asked the papa of this little boy to make dinner. He willingly called for pizza to be delivered. (snort)

So pizza was delivered and the children cheered. They gathered their plates and a couple slices and went outside for a backyard picnic.

The mama of the little boy settled onto the couch in front of a PG (in case the children came back inside) movie and a ginormous bowl of popcorn covered with salt and nutritional yeast. Yum. Mama and Papa were waiting for a gluten-free pizza to be delivered for them. The popcorn was to stave off hunger.

Suddenly, the older sister of the little boy comes in the back door.

"Mom! Robert needs you, he's bleeding."

Mama had already finished her popcorn, so none of it landed on the floor, but everything else did as she leapt up and ran outside. The little boy was wailing and had his hands to his nose. Blood streamed down his arms to his elbows.

Mama did not react in a calm way, I am sorry to say.

"Oh my god!" She said as she picked up the little boy. His bloody hands grasped her green sweater, leaving remnants of the emergency room for her to find later that night.

Mama got a cloth napkin from the drawer with the little boy still in her arms. She placed him on the love seat and went to find not ice, but another cloth napkin soaked in cold water. Papa inspected the wound and announced the little boy would need stitches. The cold napkin was applied with pressure to the bridge of the little nose. More wailing ensued.

"I don't want to be sewed up!"

"What happened?" Mama and Papa ask. Between the sobbing, an answer came.

"I was swinging and I fell out of the swing backwards and the plate I was holding hit me in the face!"

Mama couldn't find her bag with the keys in it. Papa went to retrieve the plate to see if it was broken. Mama and Papa both wondered if there was any glass embedded in the wound.

Mama found her bag in the garage next to the box of the day old chicks she had picked up that afternoon. As she picked up her belongings, she noted that the babies were still alive and that the three week old chicks weren't pecking at the newbies. Only sitting on them.

Mama ran around the house, calling six different friends to see if anyone could stay with older sister while Mama and Papa stayed with the little boy in the emergency room. No one answered. So everyone piled in the van and off they drove. (Papa called the pizza place and told them not to deliver until we called back.)

There was -- mercifully -- no one ahead of them in the emergency room. So they were in and out within forty-five minutes. The doctor, Mama and the little boy all decided that the "tape" was better then the sutures, and one "tape" did it.

The nurse gave him apple juice and let him ride the wheelchair out to the van. He wanted his older sister to ride with him and so she did.

The little boy is icing his nose when Mama remembers and giving him arnica tablets. They are keeping watch to see when the swelling goes down enough to see if the little nose is broken. Right now breathing is weird because of the swelling. So on Monday, with the swelling estimated to be gone, if the little nose looks different, the little nose will travel to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor to determine if it is broken. (Mama doesn't wish to share with the little boy what will happen to his little nose, if it needs to be re-set.)

The little boy doesn't seem nearly as exhausted as the mama of the little boy.